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1 Coronation Street
1 Coronation Street is the first house going east in Coronation Street and is located between to the Rovers Return Inn and 3 Coronation Street. For most of the time since its construction in 1902, No.1 has been the domain of Albert Tatlock or Ken Barlow. Albert moved in along with his wife Bessie after World War I in 1919 and stayed there until his death in 1984, aged 88. Ken was the husband of Albert's late niece Valerie, and kept Albert company at No.1 during Albert's old age. Albert came to look upon Ken as a son and sold the house to him in 1983, by which time Ken's wife Deirdre and daughter Tracy were living there. With one brief exception, No.1 has been the Barlow family home since Albert's death. For most of that time, it has been owned by Ken and inhabited by Ken and Deirdre, with the various members of their extended family coming and going, including Tracy, Peter, Susan, Amy and Adam Barlow, Blanche Hunt, Samir Rachid, and Denise and Daniel Osbourne. The only time it was not in the Barlow name was a period between 1994 and 1995 after Deirdre sold up to Mike Baldwin. During that time, Mike rented No.1 to Tricia and Jamie Armstrong. Mike sold the house to Ken, who has owned it since then. The current residents are Ken, Deirdre, Tracy and Amy. History Construction , Deirdre, Amy Barlow and Tracy McDonald]] 1 Coronation Street was built over a two-year period along with the rest of Coronation Street and Mawdsley Street beginning in 1900. The house's original configuration was a front parlour, hallway/stairs, kitchen and scullery on the ground floor, a landing and three bedrooms on the upper floor, and an outside lavatory and coal hole in the back yard. No.1 shared its layout with Nos. 5, 9 and 13 in having its staircase to the right of the rooms (the other houses in the street were mirror images). On 9th August 1902, the Grimshaws, the first family to live in Coronation Street, moved into No.1. Modifications In 1960, 1 Coronation Street was a house befitting the elderly couple who lived there. The scullery had been converted into a kitchen and the back room turned into a dining room, but the decor was old-fashioned, with Albert Tatlock retaining Dinky Low's sideboard which was given to him when he moved into the house in 1919. Albert was happy with No.1 the way it was and, particularly after wife Bessie's death, made few improvements to the house. One thing which did interest Albert was gardening. In 1964, he planned to turn No.1's yard into a garden and got Stan Ogden to help him lift the flagstones. They uncovered a bomb, dropped there during the Manchester Blitz, which was defused by the army. Albert gave up his plans for a garden and got an allotment instead. When Albert had to share his house with someone, their opinions about its decor were rarely flattering. In 1969, Albert's housekeeper Effie Spicer decorated the house as a surprise for him, but Albert hated her changes. Susan Barlow found No.1 depressing, causing Bet Lynch to offer to decorate it for Albert, although he said he'd do it himself. Ken Barlow too hated the antique look of the house and in 1973 decorated the downstairs rooms and put in a new cooker. Jerry Booth installed the cooker but didn't seal the pipe properly, which resulted in Albert being gassed and hospitalised. In 1981, the front parlour was converted into a bedroom for Albert as Ken and Deirdre Barlow had just married and decided to live at No.1 with Deirdre's daughter Tracy Langton. Bert Tilsley decorated the house at the same time, but got into trouble with the DOS in doing so as he had been paid £30 for the job while claiming dole. Two years later, the Barlows bought the house and modernised the kitchen, and decorated the back room again in 1984; they had cancelled their plans to buy a house in Buxton Close to buy No.1 and Deirdre was determined not to live in a "museum" of a house. causes havoc with a sledgehammer at No.1]] Further decorations took place in the kitchen in 1990 - after it was gutted by a chip pan fire inadvertently caused by Tracy - the back room in 1995, 1996 and 2004, and the front room in 2009. In 2011, Becky McDonald smashed her way into No.1 with a sledgehammer in an attempt to get to Tracy and kill her for contacting Social Services over her and Steve McDonald paying Kylie Turner to leave Becky's nephew Max Turner in their care. Becky smashed the front door and the table and chairs before Steve told her that he was the one who told Social Services, causing her to back down. Furniture-wise, the back room has kept the same layout of the sideboard with table and chairs, and a sofa parallel to the door to the hall since 1960. Owners - Ken & Deirdre Barlow Residence - Ken Barlow Deirdre Barlow Amy Barlow (Part time) Background information ]] *1 Coronation Street's interior was first seen in Episode 1 (9th December 1960). *The layout of No.1, and its position relative to the Rovers Return, doesn't seem to leave room for the Rovers toilets and stairs to the cellar. Producer Bill Podmore commented on this in his 1990 memoirs ''Coronation Street: The Inside Story, joking that the toilets were in No.1's kitchen, and that it was prime cause of Albert Tatlock's grumpiness. *In some of its early appearances, No.1's hallway was laid out with the staircase on the wrong side. Episodes 955 and 1126 are examples. *As with the other houses in the Street, the ownership of No.1 is riddled with contradictions. This article lists 1973 as the last year No.1 was confirmed to have Mr. Wormold as landlord, as he put the rent up that year. In Episode 1518 (4th August 1975), Albert refers to No.1 as his property, although no on-screen change of ownership took place between those years. *In 1981, Ken rented a garage in Viaduct Street for his Volkswagen, as Albert refused to have a German car outside his house. This is one of the few references to where the Coronation Street residents put their cars when not driving them. *Episode 6519 (25th March 2007), the programme's second (and so far last) Two-hander, was set entirely within No.1 and it's back yard. Deirdre and Tracy Barlow were the characters featured. The online Spin-off Ken and Deirdre's Bedtime Stories also centered on No.1, in this case the front bedroom. See also Category:Residents of 1 Coronation Street Category:Buildings in Coronation Street *